Melissa Smith: Like a Boss, Part 2

Leading every successful company is a person who has a story to tell about her journey. WEX President and CEO Melissa Smith recently talked about the road that brought her to the company at “Like a Boss,” a live one-on-one forum where business leaders share their stories and insights with Portland Press Herald CEO and Publisher CEO Lisa DeSisto.

Where did you grow up?

I grew up in Winn, Maine on a working potato farm, and in school I was captain of the math team and a cheerleader. Growing up in a small town, the advantage is that is that everyone has to participate. As a girl growing up there, you didn’t have to pick a lane — the idea that I could be on the math team, play soccer, and whatever else, was normal. You didn’t have to be defined by one thing.

A rite of passage if you grew up on a farm is to run farm equipment as soon as you could look over the steering wheel. I drove a hay truck, and if you spilled hay off the truck, you got off and loaded it back up even if you were under 100 pounds. We were always working on the farm – selling potatoes, caring for horses and doing whatever needed to be done.

What about your education?

After high school, I went to U Maine Orono. My mother worked there as director of HR – I remember going there as a kid and trailing her on campus. My mom is one of those brilliant people who graduated from high school early and graduated from college at 19 with a degree in mathematics. When she went to college, my grandmother was a teacher and decided she wanted to go back and get more education, so they went to U Maine together. U Maine was part of my heritage, so when it came time for college, there was no question where I was going.

I studied business at U Maine with a concentration in accounting. I knew I wanted to study business from watching my mom, but I didn’t know where it would lead. I was lucky enough to have a professor in an early accounting class – he would write me little notes asking “what’s your major going to be?” That opened a series of conversations that led me to public accounting. He was the one who told me that there are different things you can do in that field. I discovered that public accounting is really perfect for me because you go to different locations and work with different people – it’s the people part of it that I liked best.

What was your work experience before WEX?

My first paid job was at U Maine filing, which is a good thing to learn early in your life that you don’t want to do! After college, I went to work at Ernst and Young in Portland. I picked the company because it just felt right from a cultural perspective – I interviewed with a bunch of firms, and I decided to go to Portland instead of Boston so I could stay closer to my family. My first year I traveled 26 weeks – you were thrown in together with a lot of people, and had to figure out how to manage people and budgets. It was a lot of on-the-job training.

Only 5% of CEOs of public companies are women – what’s your reaction to that?

It’s been my reality for so long, I don’t really think about it much. When we went public, I was 35-year-old CFO. I’d walk into a room and you could see the reaction — someone’s about to make a $30 million decision and I’m not what they expected. But I’ve learned over time as a woman you stand out, and there’s a good to that and a bad to that. If you can get the narrative right in your head about it as a positive, that people will remember me, it gives you an opportunity to stand out. At end of day, people just care that you’re competent.

You seem fearless –what are you afraid of?

I have a big belief that everyone’s afraid – and it’s about leaning into your fears. If you can do something that makes you uncomfortable, it’s typically one of the best things you’re going to do — both in your personal and professional life. For example, we bought a $1.5 billion company last year – that was a big risk. But at same time, when you unite people behind something, it’s remarkable what you can accomplish.

What are your favorite things in Maine?

I grew up in northern Maine, full of trees and water, and my favorite places are Katahdin and Acadia. I think Acadia is so remarkable – a place where you can be on a mountain overlooking the ocean. I also like the unexpected places in Maine, where you can park your car, walk around and get a sense of community or go off into some of the islands where it’s very chill. I love also love Sugarloaf and think I’ve actually turned my husband into a Sugarloafer too!

What keeps you up at night?

Other than my 5-month-old twins? It’s often the people part of my job – the business issues are issues, and in many ways they are simpler to tackle. Part of my job is to make decisions that are the right decision for the company, and that’s not always the right decision for the person. Those things can keep me up at night – I think about the responsibility I have for our 2,700 employees and their families. There’s also the responsibility we have to our shareholders and our customers, and they all want different things.

You can read more of the Like a Boss conversation, including Smith’s responses to questions about WEX, in Like a Boss, Part 1.